"100 Reasons to Fall in Love with Bookstores" - Contribution

When it comes to independent bookstores, in addition to the "bookstore series" - "Bookstore Daily", "Bookstore Scene" and "Bookstore Sometimes" by the author Zhou Jiaying, the recently published "Independent Bookstore Like Yan Hui" also introduces independent bookstores in Hong Kong and Macau. . Interestingly, a newspaper column wrote about bookstores a few weeks ago, and it brought back memories of going to bookstores, so I submitted a post in response. Fortunately it was published in the newspaper. I share it with you here again.

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In September last year, Taiwan published a book about bookstores called "The Stolen Bookstore: My Youth, My Reading." 17 readers share their bookstores and book buying memories. When reading their sharing, it brought back my memories of books and bookstores.

When I was a child, I always loved going to the fourth floor of the Zhonghua Bookstore near my home. I didn’t have much pocket money at that time, and my parents believed that books could be borrowed from the library, so most of them could only be read. Even so, every time I go to a bookstore, looking at the books on the shelves and turning a few pages, I am already very satisfied. Probably, this is how I started my bookstore habit.

As you grow up, you can naturally own books and run many bookstores. The scope of bookstores is no longer limited to those near home, but has expanded to bookstores on the second floor in Mong Kok. Every time I go to Mong Kok Bookstore, I go on a tour: I enter every second-floor bookstore, then walk around the bookshelves, looking for suitable books, and then leave. This tour has taken me half a day.

Until I go out to do things, visiting bookstores becomes a daily habit like brushing my teeth and washing my face. At that time, there was a very famous bookstore in Causeway Bay called Amai Bookstore. I always linger in the bookstore after get off work, before the bookstore closes. If I didn’t go to Amai that week, I always felt like I was missing something. As time went by, I became not at home, but in the bookstore, or on the way to the bookstore.

In recent years, many physical bookstores have opened, and each bookstore has its own characteristics. In addition to decoration, it is related to the book selection of the store manager. In this way, in addition to buying books, bookstores also have a human touch that was rarely seen in the past.

I have seen small shops in housing estates. Neighbors always like to hang out in the shops, chatting with the boss/proprietress, and even play mahjong. I have also read some interviews. Neighbors always say that the boss/proprietress is like a family member, always greeting each other, and always blessing each other and giving gifts during festivals. If I told you more than 10 years ago that this experience could be found in bookstores, I am afraid not many people would believe it. But today, this love can also be found in bookstores. From the bookstore's IG/Facebook, you will see the store manager sharing customers' "feeding" posts, or helping to move the bookstore together. Isn’t this “human touch”?

I have several bookstores that I visit frequently. Every time I visit a certain bookstore, it’s like visiting relatives and friends. I always buy some desserts/drinks and share them with the store manager. In addition to buying books, I just sit down and chat with the store manager at a time when there are relatively few people. Talk to him and spend time together. If time permits, we often sit for more than an hour. If you see the store manager being overwhelmed when you arrive at the store, he will try his best to help.

You may be wondering, you are not a store clerk, why would you do this? Probably because of love: if you love reading, you will naturally love bookstores and store managers. When we regard the store as our home and the store manager as our family, we naturally want to contribute to the bookstore. Buying a book is of course an act of supporting the book; caring about the store manager is also a form of support.

It is a blessing to find a bookstore where people can stay often and chat with the store manager.